malysian .....

Malaysian security forces gunned down 31 Filipino intruders in Borneo on Thursday, the highest number of casualties in a single day since nearly 200 members of a Philippine Muslim clan took over an entire village last month, police said.

However, representatives of the Filipino group denied their members had been killed.

The armed clansmen have wreaked political havoc for both Malaysia and the neighboring Philippines by trying to stake a long-dormant royal territorial claim to Malaysia's sprawling, resource-rich state of Sabah in Borneo.

Most of the Filipinos had eluded capture in a coastal Sabah district filled with palm oil plantations and forested hills after Malaysian forces attacked them with airstrikes and mortar fire on Tuesday.

Police and military forces tracking them waged a fierce gunbattle that ended in the deaths of 31 clansmen Thursday, national police chief Ismail Omar said, adding that no Malaysians were injured.

But Abraham Idjirani, a Philippine-based representative for the clansmen, said he spoke by telephone Thursday evening with the group's leader, who insisted all of them remained accounted for. He claimed Malaysian forces had instead killed dozens of civilian villagers, but none of them were the clansmen.

The conflicting claims could not immediately be explained.

Ismail said at least 52 Filipinos have now been killed in the past week since hostilities in the Sabah security crisis escalated. Eight policemen also were fatally shot by the Filipino clansmen and their allies last week in various parts of Sabah.

Less than two hours before the announcement of the casualties, Prime Minister Najib Razak rejected a cease-fire call by Philippine-based members of the clan led by Jamalul Kiram III, who claims to be the sultan, or hereditary ruler, of the southern, predominantly Muslim province of Sulu in the Philippines.

A brother of Kiram, the sultan who lives in Manila, is heading the group in Sabah. Kiram had ordered them to observe a unilateral cease-fire starting Thursday afternoon by holding their current position and taking a defensive posture.

Najib responded by saying Malaysia would accept only unconditional surrender by the clansmen, who slipped into Sabah by sea around Feb. 9.

"They have to surrender their arms. They have to do it as soon as possible," Najib said at a nationally televised news conference.

"Don't believe this offer of a cease-fire by Jamalul Kiram," Malaysian Defense Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi wrote on Twitter. "For the sake of the people of Sabah and Malaysia, eliminate all militants first."

Idjirani said a cease-fire would be in line with a statement of concern by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon late Wednesday.

Ban "urges an end to the violence and encourages dialogue among all the parties for a peaceful resolution of the situation," according to the statement issued by Ban's representative.

Ban voiced concerns about how the crisis might affect civilians, including Filipino migrants in Sabah, and urged "all parties to facilitate delivery of humanitarian assistance and act in full respect of international human rights norms and standards," according to the statement.

Malaysia's government has insisted it made every effort to coax the Filipinos to leave and had to use force after the group fatally shot two policemen last week. Six other police officers were ambushed and killed by other Filipinos believed to be linked to the clansmen in another Sabah district.

The Filipinos say Sabah belonged to their royal sultanate for more than a century and should be handed back. Malaysia has dismissed their claim to the state, which has been part of Malaysia for five decades.

An estimated 800,000 Filipinos , mostly Muslims from insurgency-plagued southern provinces, have settled in Sabah over the years to seek work and stability.

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keyan

Kenyan authorities said the outcome of the country's presidential election would not be compromised by the failure of electronic vote counting technology that has delayed results for a third day.

Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, who is due to go on trial for crimes against humanity linked to the violent aftermatch of the last election in 2007, has led since results started trickling in after polls closed on Monday.

But some strongholds loyal to his rival Prime Minister Raila Odinga have yet to declare their results.

Kenyatta's lead appeared to have been eroded subsequently, but it was too early to predict the outcome. At 1.45 a.m. on Thursday (05.45 p.m. EST on Wednesday), Kenyatta had 1,119,761 votes to Odinga's 819,573 from a handful of constituencies.

Election officials had said turnout was more than 70 percent of the 14.3 million eligible voters.

If neither major candidate wins 50 percent of the vote, Kenyatta, 51, and Odinga, 68, would have to face each other in an April run-off, prolonging the uncertainty.

Ahmed Issack Hassan, chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries commission, said vote counting could be concluded at the earliest on Friday or drag on to Monday, the last day on which by law the results must be made public.

"I also want to emphasize that the fact that we are now abandoning the electronic voter transmission does not in any way mean that the integrity of the results which we are being announced are compromised," Hassan told a news conference.

Kenyans are waiting to see if politicians will respect the results this time. Five years ago some rejected the outcome unleashing weeks of ethnic killing.

KENYANS ANXIOUS

About 1,200 people were slaughtered in politically-fueled tribal violence when president Mwai Kibaki was declared the victor over Odinga amid charges of voting fraud.

With the memory of the fighting fresh in their minds, many Kenyans were anxious over the delays. "If you are waiting for something eagerly and you're not getting it, you will always be frustrated, but we have to control our tempers as we don't really know what's going on," said Modesty Maewida, 38, a hotel worker in Mombasa.

Computer servers used by the election commission to handle voting data were overwhelmed, Hassan said.

Despite technical glitches, European Union chief observer Alojz Peterle said the vote was credible and transparent so far.

The United States and other Western nations, big donors that view Kenya as vital in the regional battle with militant Islam, have already indicated that a victory by Kenyatta would complicate diplomatic relations.

Kenyatta, son of Kenya's founding president Jomo Kenyatta, and his running mate, William Ruto, both face trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague on charges of unleashing death squads after the 2007 election . Both men deny the charges and have said they will go to the court to clear their names.

Some businesses remained closed out of fear of riots, which pushed up food prices in some places.

"Life is becoming difficult and unbearable here," said Milka Achieng, 42, a mother of five.

CURRENCY WEAKENS

The Kenyan shilling weakened 1 percent against the dollar on concerns that delays in announcing a winner would prompt rivals to challenge the election outcome.

Ruto's Jubilee coalition accused British High Commissioner Christian Turner of seeking to meddle in the vote. Turner said the accusations were "entirely false and misleading".

Odinga's camp has also questioned parts of the election process before, during and after the vote, hinting at the potential for legal challenges.

As in past election s in Kenya, much of the voting has been on ethnic lines, with Kenyatta enjoying strong support among his Kikuyu tribe, Kenya's largest, and Odinga backed by the Luo. Both candidates lead broader coalitions and are also relying on support from the tribes of their running mates.
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Nepal's women climbers break highest glass ceiling

KATHMANDU, MAR 05 - It's the world's highest glass ceiling. Of the 3,755 climbers who have scaled Mount Everest, more than half are Nepalese but only 21 of those locals are women.

Aiming to change the all-male image of mountaineering in their country, a group of Nepalese women have embarked on a mission to shatter that barrier by climbing the tallest mountain on each of the seven continents.

The women, aged between 21 and 32, have already climbed Everest in Asia, Kosciuszko in Australia and Elbrus in Europe. They are preparing to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa to mark International Women's Day this week.

"The main goal of our mission is to encourage women in education, empowerment and environment," Shailee Basnet, the 29-year-old team leader, said before leaving for Africa.

Women in this Himalayan nation rarely got the chance to climb because they were confined to their homes while their husbands led expeditions or carried equipment for Western climbers , Basnet said.

It was only in 1993 that a Nepalese woman — Pasang Lhamu — first reached the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) summit of Everest. She died on the descent.

According to Ang Tshering of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, Nepalese women had traditionally expressed little attraction to mountaineering.

"It is only recently that women have shown interest," Tshering said.

Since they climbed Everest in 2008, the women have spoken in more than 100 schools across Nepal to tell students about their mission.

"We are hoping to attract more women to mountaineering, both as a profession and as a hobby," said Pema Dikki, 25, another member of the team.

Basnet said the response to the Everest climb encouraged them to push ahead.

"After Everest, we felt that we needed to go beyond the borders, so we decided to travel to all seven continents to climb the highest mountains there," Basnet said.

Basnet said the team members have spent their savings, taken out loans and sought sponsorships to finance their expensive gear, climbing permits and plane tickets.

The team plans to speak to students while in Africa to spread their theme, "You can climb your own Everest," to encourage girls to stay in school.

The team will be joined by two women from Tanzania and one from South Africa during the Kilimanjaro climb.

Nepal has eight of the 14 mountains that are more than 8,000 meters (26,240 feet) in height.


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Syrian rebels seize U.N. peacekeepers near Golan Heights

syrian rebels have seize d a convoy of U.N. peacekeepers near theGolan Heights and say they will hold them captive until President Bashar al-Assad's forces pull back from a rebel-held village which has seen heavy recent fighting.

The capture was announced in rebel videos posted on the Internet and confirmed on Wednesday by the United Nations, which said about 20 peacekeepers had been detained.

The seizure is the most direct threat to U.N. personnel in the nearly two-year-old uprising against Assad, and Human Rights Watch said it was investigating the same brigade for past executions.

It came on the day Britain said it would increase aid to the opposition forces and the Arab League gave a green light to member states to arm the rebels.

The Arab League also invited the opposition Syrian coalition to take Syria's seat at a meeting of the regional body in Doha later this month. Syria was suspended in November 2011 in response to its crackdown on protests which has since spiraled into civil war.

In the latest attack by the Syrian military, warplanes bombarded the northeastern provincial capital of Raqqa for a second consecutive day on Wednesday, killing at least 39 people, opposition activists said. Video footage showed fighters putting dismembered bodies in an ambulance.

The peacekeepers of the UNDOF mission have been monitoring a ceasefire line between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, captured by the Jewish state in a 1967 war, for nearly four decades.

Israel has warned that it will not "stand idle" as Syria's civil war spills over into the Golan region.

The United Nations in New York said its peacekeepers had been detained by around 30 fighters in the Golan Heights. The Security Council and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the seizure of U.N. observers and demanded their immediate release.

"The U.N. observers were on a regular supply mission and were stopped near Observation Post 58, which had sustained damage and was evacuated this past weekend following heavy combat in close proximity at Al Jamla," the United Nations said, referring to a village which saw fierce clashes on Sunday.

It did not mention the nationality of the observers, but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, which is in contact with the rebel brigade, said they were Filipino.

In one rebel video, a young man saying he was from the "Martyrs of Yarmouk" brigade stood surrounded by several rebel fighters with assault rifles in front of two white armored vehicles and a truck with "UN" markings.

"The command of the Martyrs of Yarmouk ... is holding forces of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force until the withdrawal of forces of the regime of Bashar al-Assad from the outskirts of the village of Jamla," said the man, who was wearing civilian clothes.

At least five people could be seen sitting in the vehicles wearing light blue U.N. helmets and bulletproof vests.

"If no withdrawal is made within 24 hours we will treat them as prisoners," the man said, accusing them of collaborating with Assad's forces to push the rebels out of Jamla.

Nearly two years after the uprising started, rebels are distrustful of the United Nations, which they say has failed to support their cause.

MILITARY AID

Earlier on Wednesday, the United Nations said the number of refugees who have fled Syria had reached 1 million, part of an accelerating exodus from a conflict which is approaching its second anniversary with no prospect of an end to the bloodshed.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague, pledging support for Assad's opponents, said the civil war had reached catastrophic proportions and that international efforts to stem the violence had been an abject failure.

Senior U.S. and Russian diplomats will discuss the conflict at a meeting in London on Thursday, Russia said, the latest in a series of meetings aimed at seeking an end to the fighting.

But Hague said the chances of getting an immediate political solution to the crisis were slim and that diplomacy was taking too long.

"If a political solution to the crisis in Syria is not found and the conflict continues, we and the rest of the European Union will have to be ready to move further, and we should not rule out any option for saving lives," he said.

However, Hague played down the prospect of direct Western military intervention.

While Moscow has been one of Assad's main protectors, members of an Islamist insurgency involved in daily clashes in Russia's predominantly Muslim North Caucasus and their compatriots have trickled into Syria to fight on the rebels' side.

A Syrian rebel leader sought to persuade European governments to lift an arms embargo for the rebels, saying any weapons provided would be accounted for and possibly returned.

"The weapons are registered on lists with numbers on each weapon. We distribute those weapons. And we know precisely who has received them," Brigadier Selim Idris told a news conference in Brussels.

ONE MILLION REFUGEES

At a registration center for Syrians in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, a 19-year-old mother of two registered on Wednesday as the millionth refugee to flee her country.

"The situation is very bad for us. We can't find work," said the teenage mother, wearing a green headscarf and holding her daughter as she spoke to reporters.

"I live with 20 people in one room. We can't find any other house as it is too expensive. We want to return to Syria. We wish for the crisis to be resolved."

Syrians started trickling out of the country 23 months ago when Assad's forces shot at pro-democracy protests inspired by Arab revolts elsewhere.

The uprising has since turned into an increasingly sectarian struggle between armed rebels and government soldiers and militias. An estimated 70,000 people have been killed.

Around half the refugees are children, most of them aged under 11, and the numbers leaving are mounting every week, the United Nations refugee agency said in statement.

"With a million people in flight, millions more displaced internally, and thousands of people continuing to cross the border every day, Syria is spiraling towards full-scale disaster," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said in a statement.

Posted on: 2013-03-07 09:42 
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Political path lost

There is a tendency in Nepali politics to resort to general strikes, aka bandas, whenever there seems to be progress in negotiations between the major political parties. Marginalised political groups stage strikes in order to assert themselves and influence the negotiations. The last time there were widespread bandas across the country was towards the end of May 2012, when the parties were engaged in tough negotiations over the constitution. At the time, many of the groups that staged bandas stood either in support of or against identity-based federalism. Things have been quiet since. There was a stalemate between the parties, and the smaller groups felt they couldn’t push for their demands in any way. Now that there has been some progress in negotiations to form a new government and hold elections, it seems almost certain that there will be an increase in bandas.

The Nepal Federal People’s Republic Front, an organisation of breakaway Maoist factions including the CPN-Maoist, set the stage with their strike yesterday. There is, however, a major difference between this organisation and the many others that may be expected to hold strikes in the coming days. Madhesi and Janajati political groups that enforce bandas do so in order to influence the negotiations between parties. They are not opposed to the broad political process; they simply want their voices to be recognised. The breakaway Maoist factions, on the other hand, do not only want to influence the process; they want to derail it altogether. During the current strike, these Maoist factions have said that their demand is for an all-party government that will hold elections. In private conversations, however, their leaders express other motivations, claiming that their objective is to ensure that elections do not take place at all.

Consumed by rage and frustration, the members of the breakaway Maoist factions claim that the goal is to complete their revolution for the sake of the oppressed and marginalised. But they cannot go back to war. Nor do they have a viable political strategy. Their actions, therefore, are confined only to politics of retaliation. Unsurprisingly, the breakaway Maoists have not been able to provide any constructive agenda and what they have resorted to instead has had damaging effects on Nepal’s politics and society. If they continue in this vein, it is certain that they will only alienate the sections of the population that they wish to attract into their fold. It is time for leaders of the CPN-Maoist to introspect their place and position in Nepali society. A politics based solely on resentment and rage can only take a party so far in an open society. Such a politics is damaging not only to a broader society but is also self-destructive.

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Here i come in the world

A few days before my 18th birthday, there was nothing I wouldn’t have done to remain 17. I dreadfully wished that the earth and the moon would stop revolving, I wished time would freeze so that I could remain 17 forever. I felt my own life was racing in front of me, escaping from my hands, and with my futile efforts of chasing it, I felt like a lost battalion. I most certainly did not want to turn 18. It felt far too scary, a step closer to the end of my teenage years. It felt so mature and so old, so much so that I felt incapable of holding its burden.

I chuckle when I recall how it has always been the same story for a few years. When I was 15, I wanted to remain that age forever. It seemed just the right age and 16 seemed far too aged and strange. As my 16th birthday approached, I continuously fretted about turning a year older. But I grew to love the age and became accustomed to it. Fifteen suddenly appeared too childish. I was glad that I was now a 16-year-old lady and no longer a 15-year-old child.

But again as my 17th birthday drew close, I did not want to let go of 16. Nonetheless as I turned 17, I realised I was fine with it. But again, ironically, I did not want to turn 18. I still don’t

know why I hold a grudge against growing up. I am sure of something though. No matter how much I fret and complain about growing up in the beginning, I feel happy and satisfied to have grown up ultimately.

I’ve turned 18 for a couple of days now. I look back at the past 17 years and reflect upon my achievements. I did pretty well at school and college, participated in some extracurricular activities and won a few certificates. Turning 18 has made me realise that indeed the time has come to change track, get out of my comfort zone and set out for opportunities, become independent and explore life, set new goals and follow my passion. It has filled me with courage and determination and prepared me for changes. It has brought with it a feel of optimism and hope for the future, filled me with zeal and enthusiasm, made me stronger. It has instilled in me a divine feeling, a feeling that come what may, I will be able to handle myself and move on.

Now I feel proud to have turned 18, proud to have stepped into what is officially tagged as maturity. I feel sure of myself and ready to set out afresh. I see the world waiting, waiting for me to prove my worth.

Posted on: 2013-03-07 09:05 

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journalist and lawyers

The Nepal Bar Association’s opposition to Chief Justice Regmi assuming the post of the electoral prime minister has emerged as the strongest among the oppositional voices.  One can say that what Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) was to the Dekendra episode a month or so ago, the NBA is to the CJ choice as PM to find a way out of the impasse. Journalists and lawyers, as a Nepali Dalit intellectual reminded me recently, have their ears tuned to power.  And whenever social and state power seems to slip from their grip, they are the first ones to know, well before the general public. The Dalit intellectual was referring to the kicking and screaming of journalists and lawyers in recent years over change in Nepal. If one takes solely Nepal’s example, this may be more or less true — lawyers filing one writ after another in support of the status quo whether in matters of citizenship, the CA, various alliances forged by the Maoists with the marginalised forces or the more recent episode of the CJ. Members of the Nepal Journalist Federation and NBA have stood at various times in support of the status quo in the guise of human rights, nationalism, separation of power, or rule of law and democracy.

One can certainly dismiss both the NBA and the FNJ as regressive forces comprised of people overwhelmingly of one group trying their best to keep the old covenant alive so that power remains in the grip of the traditional elite in Nepal. But this easy way overlooks numerous counter examples of journalists and lawyers where they became torch bearers against colonialism, oppression and dominance. Gandhi and Mandela, both lawyers, encountered injustice at different periods in South Africa and took up the cause of the oppressed and the marginalised. The former eventually undid the might of the British Empire and the latter became an icon of humanity in opposing the injustice of apartheid. Abraham Lincoln and Thurgood Marshall, coming from two periods and racial groups, were both lawyers. While Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, fought the Civil War and lost his life while doing so as President of the United States, Thurgood Marshall successfully opposed Jim Crow laws in the courts of the United States.

The examples of journalists digging up cases of injustice from national and international obscure corners for public knowledge and justice are too numerous to count. The roster of journalists getting nominated and winning various prizes, including the Pulitzer in the US, tells the story of exemplary journalism devoted to the cause of justice, reining in unbridled exercise of wealth and power.

In Nepal’s case, the situation has been complex. Can the courts and the people associated with them be said to be fighting for justice or legality? By professional code of conduct and ethics, the courts must be independent from bias but have they been so? What is the relationship between law and justice? Is the legal always just or the just always legal? I’m sure those who have become lawyers and judges have encountered this conundrum as far back as their law school but these questions remain as valid in their careers even now.

If Gandhi, Mandela, Lincoln and Marshall stand on one side, then there are the Pakistani lawyers who showered the assassin of Salman Taseer, the Governor of Pakistani Punjab, with rose petals in 2011 as the assassin was being taken to court. Taseer had opposed the death sentence against a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, accused of blaspheming Islam. Is it time, then, our lawyers, especially the NBA, did some soul-searching and answer some questions? Are they for justice or for legalese? Are courts just a means to conserve class or group power and oppose progressive change or a means to provide justice, fairness and equality to people? Is the Supreme Court a means to facilitate Nepal’s dynamic march into the future or obstruct it?

But, then, all this brouhaha over the Chief Justice assuming the executive post is ultimately for the good of Nepal’s democratic exercise even though it appears regressive and obstructionist right now. The opposition by the NBA is partisan and may very well be driven by all kinds of ulterior motives. For sooner the election, the faster will be the pace of change and sooner the demise of old Nepal. Nevertheless, the NBA’s opposition can be taken as part of the vetting process.

It offers another chance for parties to re-examine their decisions, sharpen their tools of persuasion, and reflect once more on the consequences of CJ assuming the post even of the electoral prime minister. It also tests the resolve of those who desperately want a way out of this present impasse so that the country can move on. If their resolve remains firm despite the opposition, if they still believe in their decision after reflection and re-examination, then their sound decision will have a better chance of success.

Posted on: 2013-03-07 09:04
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